The Affect of Hair Static and Balloons

Broad Question:

Does the color of hair affect the amount of static shock?

Specific Question

Does Brown, Blond, Red, or Gray hair have a greater affect one static shock?

Variables

Independent Variable:Hair color

Dependent Variable: Pieces of paper

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Size of paper, Balloon size, # of times rubbed on head

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that brown hair will have the most static then blond, gray, and lastly red.

Graph of Hypothesis

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Experimental Design

I will be doing the experiment at my house. There will be four people involved in my experiment. They will be rubbing balloons on their head and sticking pieces of paper to the balloon using static. I will need six trials to have enough information to make a reliable conclusion. While I’m conducting my experiment I will record the data on a spread sheet probably printed off the computer, then put the data into the computer. During the experiment I will all so take pictures of the experiment, then load the pics on wiki spaces. I will write the the information from my experiment on a piece of paper so i don’t for get it then later, I will put it on google docs.

Materials List

1. 4 people with different coloreds hair (red, gray, blond, brown)
2. 4 balloons close to the same size
3. A Stack of paper
4. Pencil
   

   

5. Spread sheet
6. Timer

Detailed Procedure

1. Gather all materials.
2. Spread paper out on hard surface.
3. Take 1 balloon .
4. Take 1 person any hair color.
5. Rub balloon on head for 10 seconds.
6. Rut balloon on 1 piece of paper at a time until they stop sticking.
7. Record the number of pieces of paper that stuck to balloon.

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Background Research

1.It’s been known for about 3,000 years that when some materials are rubbed together they can attract or repel other objects. the word “electricity” came from the Greek word “elektron”
2.Static electricity is the accumulation of electrical charges on the surface of a material. It is called “static” because there is no current flowing, as there is in alternating current or direct current electricity.
3.Some atoms get extra electrons. They have a negative charge. Other atoms loose electrons. They have a positive charge. When charges are separated like this it is called static electricity
4.Wearing leather-soled shoes helps prevent build-up of static charge in your body. Pick up your feet when walking especially on carpet to prevent less shock. Apply a layer of antistatic hand lotion to your hands and skin. This will add moisture to your skin, which can cut down on the conduction of static electricity.

References

1.Challoner, Jack. Energy. New york New york, USA: Dorling Kindersley, 1993. Print.
2.Kurtus, Ron. Basic of static electricity . 23 Jan. 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2012. <http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/static.htm>.
3."Static Electricity ." Learn about Static charge & Static Shock. Science made simple, 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2012. <http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/static.html>.
4.Zinski, Jaimie . How To Prevent Static Shock . eHow, 2012. Web. 19 Jan. 2012

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT9He_vw-SdJgnX4FNI_paxmntN2KCH_Ljt0YkK_wGSPolTdNyQZg
http://t1.gstatic.com/imagesq=tbn:ANd9GcRzSormPaIZzoAcC7H-B__FQCMP_zUqKv6aqfFKdOOWIcD69aUD

Data Table

Graphs

Photos

Data Analysis

Conclusion

The original purpose of this experiment was to find out if a certain hair color affects static electricity. Four hair colors and same paper size was used. I picked one hair color at a time. Then I rubbed the balloon on the person’s head for fifteen seconds. I then put pieces of paper on the balloon to see how many stuck. The results were that the most static came from brown hair with an average of 3.4 pieces of paper, then red (2 pieces), grey (.6 pieces), and lastly blond (.2 pieces).

Discussion

My hypothesis was that brown hair would have the most static, followed by blonde, grey, and lastly red. My hypothesis kind of supports my results. I said brown hair would have the most static and the results show it does. But I was wrong about all the other colors. There is a relationship between the independent and dependant variables.

Some pattern and trends that my data show are... Brown could hold up the most pieces of paper and had the most static. The most gray, and blonde held up was one piece of paper. I think my project went smoothly with minor problems. I got the data I needed, but at first the test weren’t working very well. The paper wouldn’t stick when we were testing on the carpet. Then we moved to the table and it started to work better.

If I could improve my experiment, I would get different balloons as well as different paper. If I wanted to study about static electricity further, I would have to know what causes it and how to do experiments to work with it.